Keeping an Eye on Malware

Excerpt

Modern vehicles are connected to external software ecosystems and dependent upon them if their functions are to be improved and updated. This makes them vulnerable. The highly or even hyper connected vehicles as a part of the Internet of Things, IoT, are more susceptible to attack by viruses or other malware than their analog predecessors. The danger of infection by immediately active and sometimes sleeper virus programs increase as a function of the many touch points including the externally interconnected software systems. The topic of security thus reaches from the vehicle's local systems up to the OEM's production systems and those of its system suppliers: If in this IoT environment an access point or malware from a trustworthy source is injected at the beginning of the chain then defending against a cyber-attack is accordingly difficult. Since under normal circumstances many devices have continuous access via USB, Bluetooth etc. at least to the Infotainment system, the topic is not easily avoidable. There is a reason why it is not wise to use USB charging points at public places such as airports and hotels. If these charging points are used and the end device is employed after a virus has been injected, then naturally the vehicle and its systems are in danger: Even high-quality security measures such as intrusion detection systems will not always win the development race against hackers. …